


All Smoke, No Fire

by Thealmostrhetoricalquestion



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Case Fic, Curse Breaking, Denial of Feelings, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutually Unrequited, Pining, Truth Spells
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:33:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23753137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thealmostrhetoricalquestion/pseuds/Thealmostrhetoricalquestion
Summary: Teddy and James have been partners for years, taking the Curse-Breaking world by storm. They know each other. They trust each other. There's no room for secrets, not in their line of work, and definitely not in their totally platonic, casual, friendly partnership.Until a new case and a Truth Curse reveals that there might be a little room for secrets after all, particularly where Teddy is concerned.
Relationships: Teddy Lupin/James Sirius Potter
Comments: 45
Kudos: 235
Collections: JeddyFest_2020





	1. there is no smoke

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GoldenTruth813](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldenTruth813/gifts).



> Prompt: James and Teddy are curse breakers. Their incredible partnership and history of success relies on complete and utter trust. There's just one problem... Teddy is hiding something. When Teddy accidentally triggers an honesty curse that means he can only answer things with the truth, will their friendship survive the things Teddy has been keeping hidden?
> 
> Janel, this is for you, since you prompted it!! I hope you like it!!
> 
> There's a second chapter in which I shall add more tags!! Be up in a few days! <3

Camden was heaving with people. Teddy stood in the mess of thundering heartbeats, catching snatches of conversation as he tried not to sweat through his shirt. It was hot and busy and he should have been Off-Duty twenty-three minutes ago, but apparently his partner had the directional sense of a slow-worm, and Teddy was lost for the second time that afternoon. 

“It’s supposed to be right there,” James mused. 

It was weird, hearing his voice as though he was right beside Teddy, when in reality he was being a bother from Whitehall, miles away. When he was younger, Teddy would sit with Harry on Gran’s sofa and watch old spy movies with his eyes glued to the screen, fascinated by the gear and gadgets. He liked the tense train scenes best, but the laser pens and earpieces had taken a quick second place. 

The idea had taken a long time to come into fruition, but now most partners in the Ministry required a small, jelly-like orb to sit in their ears while working, spelled to allow them to communicate across long distances. Teddy found the orb far too sticky in the heat, but he still thought it was fascinating. 

It was a work in progress, and not all the Departments had warmed to the idea when it was rooted in something so Muggle, but Minister Granger was nothing if not determined. 

“Seriously, it’s supposed to be right there.”

Teddy sighed, stepping aside so that a bunch of teenagers in bright clothes and backpacks could sprint down the pavement. “Well, it’s not right here. It’s not right anywhere. I look like a right dick just standing here, staring at a wall, so do your job.”

He wasn’t too fond of the jelly-like orbs himself, but when James laughed in his ear, cheerful and indulgent, he could have written whole sonnets about them. There were spells in place to let him blend in, but even if he had an Invisibility Cloak, he would still have been at the tender mercy of the seething crowd. There was nowhere to stand where he wouldn’t be elbowed or trodden on. Someone was stirring big vats of curry down the road, and the scent drifted towards him, mingling with the sweat and threads of perfume that clung to his cloak. 

“James, seriously,” Teddy said, exasperated, only to be cut off by a small victorious exclamation. 

“Okay, found it, the bastard who wrote these reports messed up one of the coordinates. I don't know why he didn't just write the street name or some, you know, actual descriptors, but who am I to pass judgement?” There was a pause while James rustled some papers at his desk. “Trick question, I’m James Sirius Potter, and I’m going to pass judgement right now, thanks very much. Take a left.”

The order was so abrupt that Teddy obeyed without thinking. His feet took him left, towards a brick wall painted a bright, searing orange. Someone had spray-painted a huddle of tentacles over the top in a cascade of blocky, pixelated lines. There were a few people posing in front of it, holding up peace signs while their friends fiddled about with phones. Teddy followed the rapid-fire directions in his ear until he came to another wall, this one plastered in old posters. 

“Apparently there should be a bloke on one of the posters wearing a monocle. You see him?”

Teddy peered closer and let his wand slip from his sleeve. “I see him.”

“Great. Is he hot?”

“He’s got a pornstar mustache and he’s made of ink.”

“So, ‘yes, James, but I can’t say so because it would be unprofessional and I’m a huge stick in the mud,’ right?” James flipped a few more papers, and at this point Teddy was convinced he was being slow and unhelpful on purpose. “Okay, twist the monocle, and it should work like a doorknob. You’re gonna come right out into Hoop Street, so keep an eye out. It’s meant to be pretty seedy.” 

“Which is why I’m here in the first place,” Teddy reminded him, but his ear was filled with disgruntled muttering. He would have ignored it, had it not sounded concerned. “Hey.”

James went quiet. He didn't like being so far away from Teddy while they were on a job, but he had a nasty fall the other day and now his ankle was a bruised, swollen mess even with the most disgusting potions swirling through his system. Honestly, Teddy preferred having James at his side too, but they were both perfectly capable of looking after themselves. 

They had gone into the Curse-Breaker business a few years apart, on account of Teddy having the audacity to be born before James. By the time Teddy was comfortable behind his short oak desk in the narrow office he’d been assigned, in the very depths of the Ministry, James had been taking his N.E.W.T’s. When he swanned through the door with a preliminary badge and a cocky grin, Teddy had been less comfortable and more unsure. The first year had been difficult, but now they had settled into a groove. Teddy couldn’t ask for a better partner. 

“You’re in my ear,” Teddy said softly, soothingly, leaning one shoulder against the wall as he twisted the monocle. “Nothing’s going to happen, and if it does, I know you’ll be here in a heartbeat.”

“Less than,” James confirmed quickly. 

“Then stop being such a Molly,” he said, earning an indignant snort. 

The brick wall rippled like it was made of paper—and then suddenly, it _was_ made of paper.

Teddy cast about for any witnesses, but there was the aroma of magic about the place, and nobody looked his way as he slipped through the sheets that had previously been bricks and emerged in a completely different street. 

The paper sheets melted back into brick. There was another poster there, of a woman this time, and she was clutching her pearls close to her neck. She shot Teddy a scandalised look when he cast a few spells over the wall, making sure he could get back through if necessary. 

James cleared his throat. “See anything?”

“Nothing yet. The entrance isn’t guarded with anything other than the usual brick enchantments, I can’t detect any Anti-Disapparation Charms, and the street seems empty.” Teddy scanned the dingy cobbles, peering up at the brief slip of sky visible through the arcing swoops of coloured linen hanging from thick cords. “This whole place feels like a giant blanket fort.”

“Hmm. No Anti-Disapparation Charms at all?”

Teddy shook his head and started forward. The buildings surrounding the place were all tall and narrow, and hazy with the application of magic. He didn't even want to think about the amount of shady shit going on behind locked, barred doors. But he wasn’t here for that. 

“Quick escapes,” James murmured, and it was wrong that the tone sent a shudder down Teddy’s spine, but it couldn’t be helped. “They care about who gets in—you have no idea what it took to get the location, and neither do I, but I’m sure it cost the Ministry a lot—but they need to keep the way open for anyone to make a mad dash. Careful, Ted.”

“Always am.” 

But he refreshed his Disillusionment Charm anyway. 

The street turned out to be a loop, taking after its name. It was unclear where exactly in London he was, or if Teddy was even in London anymore, but magic could only do so much. It seemed more likely that the brick wall led to somewhere connected to Camden, even if it was only distantly. Teddy kept quiet as he crept through the streets, his wand held in a loose grip, but he found himself back in front of the brick wall in no time. 

“A loop, huh?” James made a thoughtful sound. “Can’t see anything in the notes, but I’ll keep looking. We need to find him, or Addison’s gonna be pissed. Can you try tracking him?”

“With what? A bit of hair and a dance under the full moon?”

“You’re such a magic snob. Some of the old stuff works, you know, I had this really gross rash a few months ago, and Lucy told me if you stand under—”

“Sometimes, I think you over-share, and then we have conversations like this, and I don't need to think about it anymore.”

James cackled quietly. The connection fizzed in and out for a second, as Teddy was marching towards the narrowest part of the street, where a small overpass joined two buildings together. He missed the last part of James’s sentence, too busy staring at the figure lurking beneath the overpass. He was bathed in shadows, shaking on the doorstep of a nearby building, frantically hammering on the door. By the looks of it, he had just been thrown out. 

“Found him,” Teddy muttered, sketching a quick shape in the air with his wand. It locked the various doors around them with a dozen muted clicks. 

James went silent, waiting. 

“Seriously, you fucks, let me in,” Mundungus Fletcher hissed, beating on the door with one tobacco-stained hand while he groped for his wand with the other. “I ain’t got no plans to be eaten by that bastard Potter or the fucking Lupin boy, and if you don't—”

“Hello, Fletcher.” 

Mundungus whipped around, his large overcoat trailing along the ground. He was trembling and gaunt, and he stared up at Teddy like a deer in the headlights, frozen on the doorstep. Teddy stepped under the overpass and smiled, affable to the core. 

“It’s been a while,” Teddy said pleasantly. “What was that about being eaten?”

Mundungus turned tail and ran. 

Teddy’s smile dropped, and he sighed. “Shit.”

James said cheerily, “Go get ‘em.”

Teddy didn't need anymore encouragement; he gave chase. His feet pounded the pavement, unsteady on the cobbles, but he’d grown up on the lumpy hills of Ottery St Catchpole, and nothing could stop him from reaching his goal. Mundungus knew the area better, that was for sure, but nobody answered the locked, barred doors when he fired clumsy spells at them, and there weren’t many places to go. In the end, the street was still a loop. 

As Teddy skidded round the last corner, he saw Mundungus launch himself at the poster on the brick wall; the ink lady gasped, gripping her necklace. Her pearls split, tumbling out of the poster and falling to the ground with little clinks. Mundungus scrambled for one, but before he could pick it up and presumably make his getaway, Teddy sent a Propulsion Jinx flying towards him. 

It hit him in the calf, and he yelped, toppling to the ground. 

“Did you get him?” James said eagerly. 

“Yeah.” Teddy sent ropes curling towards Mundungus, and then swept all the ink black pearls into a pile with a swipe of his wand. “Wait, were you listening the whole time?”

“Not gonna pass up a chance to hear you getting all hot and heavy in my ear.”

“James.”

“Get your mind out of the gutter, I’m talking about your horrible lung capacity.” There was a pause, and an almost audible wink. “And I’ll be thinking about it later tonight, too.”

Teddy sighed and wiped a hand down his face, striding towards the downed figure of Mundungus Fletcher. He towered over him, and then eased him over onto his back, tapping his wand against his thigh. Several things didn't add up, not least the furious scowl on his face. He was still pale, but he was wrenching at the ropes with the kind of vigour that inspired several protection spells to leap to mind. 

“We’ve got a problem,” Teddy said. 

All the cheer had left James’s voice when he spoke. “It’s not him, is it?”

“Dung’s a coward,” Teddy confirmed. “This guy looks like he might bite my head off given the chance.”

Mundungus let out something of a snarl, wriggling about in his ropes. 

“Which one are you, then?” Teddy knelt and ran his wand-tip down the length of Mundungus’s squat nose. “Either way, you’re in deep shit.”

The spell that slung from Teddy’s wand peeled away several layers of enchantment, until Mundungus Fletcher was gone, and in his place lay a shivering, scowling wreck of a boy. The bottom dropped out of Teddy’s stomach. He didn't look any older than fifteen. 

“At least that explains why you didn't Apparate,” Teddy said, leaning back on his haunches. “Take it easy, I’m one of the good guys. How old are you?”

The boy shrugged. 

“Got a name?”

The boy shrugged again. 

“Right.” Teddy sighed. “Christ, you lot don't make this easy, do you? Well, I’m not arresting you, so you can stop shaking. But I am taking you in. Are you hurt?”

The boy seemed to be gearing up for another shrug, but he stopped at Teddy’s question, eyeing him warily. He tried to make his expression open, welcoming, but it was James that always inspired trust in their witnesses and victims. They weren’t Aurors, so most of their work involved Cursed objects rather than people, but there was always an overlap; widows with rooms full of Cursed inheritances, lost kids led astray by Cursed plushies and shoelaces, elderly Muggles following the call of Cursed walking sticks. James could put them all at ease. 

Teddy had a little more trouble with that side of things, but it didn't stop him from trying. He just did a better job with James at his side. 

“Want me to contact Addison?” James asked, with a creak that meant he was leaving his desk, which he shouldn’t be doing when his ankle was the size of a house. “She should know who we found, and she can send for Baz. He’s been re-locating the little snakes, right?”

“Sit down and rest your ankle,” Teddy said. “Not you,” he added, when the kid looked up at him like he was insane. “But you can tell me what you were doing here.”

“Setting up a bake sale,” the kid snapped. 

Teddy sighed, and waved his wand. A few complicated spells later revealed that the kid had a bruise on his hip, likely from where he hit the ground, and was malnourished, but other than that, he seemed fine. Dirty, and far too young for this sort of life, and _annoyed,_ but fine. 

The last spell also shone a light on the slight bulge in the overcoat: a pocket filled to the brim, and unnaturally so. Like too many shrunken items had been shoved in there. 

“Okay, here’s what’s going to happen,” Teddy said, hauling the kid up by the arms. “We’re going to Apparate to the Ministry, where you can explain to me and my partner exactly what you were doing here, and we can help you as much as you let us. I’m going to confiscate your coat, but I’ll grab you something from lost property, and you can keep anything inside it that isn’t dangerous. I also know James has biscuits and sandwiches shoved in his desk, and he’ll part with them if you ask nicely.”

The kid had that deer in the headlights look again, but he wasn’t trying to fight Teddy, or the bonds around his legs and torso. 

“I can’t help you if you don't cooperate, and I can’t promise you won’t get in trouble if you’ve done things you’re not supposed to, but you’re a minor and we’re not after you, so you’ve got some leniency, understand?” Teddy prodded the kid when he didn't answer, ignoring James’s soft, cautious sound in his ear. “You with me?”

“Fine, whatever, you’re on my side and all that shit, stop poking me.” The kid glared up at him. “You gonna let me out of this stuff or what?”

“Not a chance,” Teddy said lightly. “We need the pearls to get out, right?”

The kid’s glare soured. “You can just Apparate, you know. It’s not hard.”

Teddy didn't have the patience to explain that every Apparation was recorded for his Office, and that it was better to use the Apparation Points provided unless he wanted to spend hours filling out incredibly persnickety reports while James lobbed bits of salt-and-chili chicken at him over the desk. He let one eyebrow rise to show how very much he wanted to get this all over with, and the kid caved. 

“Just give one of the pearls back to the lady, and she’ll let you out.”

Teddy bent and picked up two ink pearls, marvelling at how fluid they felt in his hand, before pushing them back into the poster. They appeared on the woman’s neck, and she clutched her hands together gratefully, gesturing them through the rippling brick wall. Teddy hauled the kid through and headed straight for the nearest Apparation point; a bus stop a few feet away that had been graffitied out of commission. 

“I can walk,” the kid snapped, trying to toss away Teddy’s hand. But Teddy kept a firm grip on the back of the kid’s coat, like he was an unruly kitten. He’d been doing this for two weeks now, chasing leads and clones of Mundungus left and right, only to turn up with kids like this one, some worse off than others. They usually made a swift getaway, and he wasn’t taking any chances. 

“You can,” Teddy agreed. “You can also run, so forgive me if I don't let you go frolicking off on your own yet.”

“Frolicking,” James scoffed in his ear. “What is this, the Sound of Music?”

“I ain’t fuckin’ frolicking anywhere, Granddad,” the kid snapped at the same time.

James started cackling again, obscuring Teddy’s exasperated sigh. The kid kept wriggling and writhing like a fish on a hook, and when Teddy yanked him a bit closer the kid tripped and almost brought them both tumbling down. 

Something rolled out of the kid’s pocket and clattered to the ground. 

“Will you stop—” Teddy started, irritated now, but he stopped abruptly when he laid eyes on the object. 

It was a pipe. It was rather stubby, but in good condition, and a great deal smaller than it should have been. The collision with the pavement had not put a dent in the Shrinking Charm. Teddy didn't know much about tobacco pipes, but when he bent and picked it up, he could tell from the weight that it hadn’t been cheap to make. 

“Ted, you there?” James asked, not sounding too worried by the sudden silence. “I swear, if you’ve Apparated with the orb in again, I’m going to have to fight you with my bare fists. You know it makes my ears pop.”

“Is this what you were selling?” Teddy held the pipe out to the kid. He was standing like a block of ice, rigid and pale, and his eyes were fixed on the tip of the pipe, where Teddy’s thumb lingered. 

“I wasn’t selling nothin’,” the kid said, but his voice was all wrong, drenched in half-truths. 

Camden was still crowded. The curry scent was strong in the air, and further down the street, a busker was wringing a vicious, uplifting tune from a violin. People parted around them both easily enough, though not without some absent-minded grumbling, but the spells wrapped around Teddy had leaked all over the kid too. They were ghosts in this market. 

“He sounds spooked,” James said softly. “Come back to the Office and we can talk here, yeah? He might need to calm down before he’ll answer any of our questions.”

James was right. But something held Teddy back from answering. He Vanished the ropes around the kid’s legs and led him with a steadier gait towards the bus stop, still holding onto the pipe and the back of his coat. There were more of these pipes in the kid’s pocket, he was sure of it. And for weeks now, they had been tracking a lead regarding a Curse that clouded the victim's lungs with a foul, evil smoke, cutting off their airway. 

Twelve people were in critical condition in St Mungo’s. 

The report from the last victim had thrown Mundungus into the spotlight, but every time they thought they had nabbed him, it turned out to be another kid dressed up in his likeness. It was a wild goose chase through the grittier parts of London. It was frustrating and disheartening, and every time they missed the boat it sent a wave of anxious irritation through the pair of them. 

Now, it was taking everything Teddy had not to shake the kid until answers fell out of his mouth. 

They reached the bus stop in silence. The kid let Teddy take his arm gently, holding him around the wrist, and though he kept glancing at the pipe, he didn't say anything. 

“If you’re sick, aim to the left when we arrive,” Teddy said. “I’m Apparating straight into the Atrium with my pass, and there’s this really ugly gargoyle there that gives me lip every time. Feel free to give it a makeover.”

The kid made a noise like he wanted to laugh, but managed to stifle it in time. “I’m not gonna throw up. Get on with it. And don't take your thumb off the end of that pipe.”

Which was precisely the moment where things went wrong. Or rather, it was the moment where someone barreled into Teddy’s back as they ran past with their mates, hooting with laughter, sending them both stumbling into the bus stop. Teddy gripped the kid tightly as they fell sideways, and managed to twist in _just_ the right way to start Apparating, right as his grip slipped on the pipe. 

Teddy landed in Whitehall with a green-faced kid clinging to his arm, James’s annoyed hissing in his ear, and a cloud of smoke inching its way down his throat.

* * *

Andromeda Tonks had a philosophy. She had passed it down to Teddy when he was almost six, staring mournfully at a drawing that wasn’t coming out the way he wanted it to. The trees were all wobbly, and the Thestral had too many bones in its wings. He wanted Auntie Luna to look luminescent, not like a sad, squashed lemon. Teddy was nothing if not a perfectionist, even at that age.

“No use moping,” Gran had said, kneeling beside his chair. “You know my philosophy?”

Teddy hadn’t even known what the word meant. 

“If in doubt, make a cup of tea.” Gran had pulled him towards the counter and put on some music at the same time as the kettle. “Dance around, do something fun, think about something you heard last Wednesday. But make a cup of tea.”

“I’ll probably get that wrong too and it’ll taste bad.”

“Even bad tea is good for dunking biscuits in.”

And she was right. The simple act of making tea when his mind buzzed with thoughts and he wanted to shake something calmed him to the core. It was soothing to put the leaves in the strainer and wait for the water to boil, and select a mug that was going to make him smile. Sure, the teapot took up more space in their Office cabinet than really necessary, and James always complained that you could buy fancy teas at a cafe in less time than it took Teddy to choose a blend, but he didn't care. 

“He says he wants to talk to you,” James said, poking his head around the tiny kitchenette. “Are you seriously not done yet? Just put the milk in and help me out, this kid is like Albus at his most annoying age.”

“You’re going to have to be more specific,” Teddy said. “Albus had a lot of annoying ages. He took after his older brother.”

James snorted and vanished around the corner again. “Bring Hobnobs,” was all he said, and Teddy rolled his eyes, but took the packet out of the cupboard anyway. 

The Office for the Removal of Curses, Jinxes and Hexes technically didn't fall under any Departments, but it still took up a large portion of one of the floors at the Ministry. The long corridor bedecked with posters and annotated, framed photographs of Cursed objects never left a very lasting impression on visitors that stumbled through the brass elevator doors. Neither did the little kitchenette at the end of the corridor, crammed with one lumpy couch and an array of folding chairs, an abundance of leftover files, and everyone’s wet jackets; they were still drying from the onslaught of indoor rain last week, thanks to the wonky atmospheric charms in the Atrium. 

The offices themselves were no more exciting, but at least they were usually comfortable enough for people to feel safe talking about their Cursed experiences. Two people to an office, with two small desks tucked on either end of the room, partitioned by a removable screen that was _always_ removed in Teddy’s office. James had taken one look at the screen between their desks and Vanished the entire thing, thus setting the tone for the rest of their working partnership. Teddy had been dubious about sharing a space at first, but now he couldn’t think of anywhere that he’d rather spend his time. 

Teddy finished making the tea while he ran through the day's events with a fine-toothed mental comb. He had chased down a suspect in Hoop Street, who turned out to be a kid in disguise, taking refuge in one of the grungy safehouses that looped the empty marketplace. He’d taken the kid in and during the scuffle in Camden, a pipe had fallen on the floor. When Teddy picked it up, nothing happened. When somebody bashed into him and he accidentally uncovered the end of the pipe, his throat had felt thick and horrible, but nothing had _visibly_ happened. Apparating back to the Ministry had been a bit of a mess, but still, nothing had really happened. 

There was absolutely no reason to suspect that anything was wrong, and yet Teddy felt uncomfortable to the bone. 

He Levitated three cups of tea out of the kitchenette and followed the floating cups down the corridor, until he reached their office. A wave to Hollens next door went unnoticed, but the slightly shorter wave to the kid in Teddy’s seat definitely grabbed his attention. He was wearing a jumper that James had found in a desk drawer, made of thick fuzzy maroon wool. Three guesses who knitted it. The kid scowled when Teddy deposited the milky, sugary tea in front of him, but perked up a little when presented with Hobnobs. 

“Don't hog them,” James warned him, but it was hard to take him seriously, considering he was sitting in a maelstrom of swirling activity, with a silly grin on his face. 

“There’s not really a need for this,” Teddy said, eyeing a line of quills as they quivered through the air in front of him. 

“It’s how I organise my stuff!”

“It’s how you mess up our entire office, you pillock.”

James sat back in his desk chair and sipped his tea, books and files and photographs spinning around his head like some bizarre stationary-inspired mockery of a solar system. He kicked his feet up on his empty desk, showcasing the blue bandage wrapped tightly around his ankle, and the equally blue sock on his other foot, patterned with sleeping pandas. 

“I have a question,” the kid said, scattering crumbs on Teddy’s desk. “Is there a reason why I’m stuck in here instead of in the Aurors office? I thought that was in like, a big fancy part of the Ministry. Not this shitty little hovel.”

James squawked. There was no other word for it. He shot up with a little flail that nearly spilled tea everywhere, and then let his mug go; it drifted off aimlessly amongst the manilla files, orbiting Teddy’s wary head. 

“Believe it or not, this place used to be much worse,” Teddy said. “If you find it so distasteful, you can sit in the hallway and I’ll have my desk back.”

The kid took another begrudging bite of his biscuit and said nothing. 

“You know, I’m insulted,” James mused aloud, settling back in his chair again. “I put a lot of work into the cat posters. Teddy hates them, don't you, Ted?”

“No,” Teddy said. 

Then he blinked. There were thirteen cat posters on the wall directly opposite Teddy’s desk. Each one was a different, violent shade of the rainbow, boasting a different species of cat, and they said vaguely inspirational things in chunky, flashing font. James had stuck them all up on his third week of sharing the office, back when Teddy wasn’t so sure it would all work out, and had laughed every time Teddy failed to remove them. 

He _didn't_ hate them, but he had never ever admitted that to James. 

But maybe he should have, considering how delighted James looked at the admittance. He spun on the chair and made an amused, victorious sound. 

“You’re caving now? Seriously?”

“Not by choice,” Teddy said, and blinked again. 

James scoffed slightly, his eyebrows tipped up. “Nobody’s holding a wand to your head. Anyway, what were we talking about? Oh, yeah. The Auror thing.” He spun on his chair again to give the kid a whirlwind smile, amiable and bright. “We’re not Aurors, so we’re not part of their Department. Sometimes we do their job, though, because everyone there is pretty much useless. And you can trust me on that, I’m an expert. I know the Head Auror.”

But the kid wasn’t paying James any attention. He was staring at Teddy instead, his mouth hanging open in horror, holding a half-eaten biscuit in a tight, trembling grip. Teddy didn't like that look. It didn't bode well. 

Teddy opened his mouth, but the kid squeaked, and said, “Nothing.”

“I didn't even ask yet,” Teddy pointed out mildly, eyebrows raised. 

The biscuit trembled a little harder. 

“Right,” James said. They shared a look that said more than words ever could, and Teddy nodded, leaning back against the desk to let James take charge. “Right, okay, so let’s ignore whatever you’re hiding for now and start at the beginning. Got a name?”

“Teddy Remus Lupin,” Teddy said. 

He didn't mean to. He didn't even register that his mouth was moving, but as his tongue connected with the underside of his top teeth, the foreboding feeling rattled through him with the intensity of an aggrieved snake. The words spilled free. James’s chair squeaked a little as he turned to shoot him a bizarre, incredulous look, one that clearly said, _did you honestly think I was talking to you, you absolute prick?_

“What,” Teddy began, “the _fuck_ is going on?”

“Ted,” James spluttered, caught uncharacteristically off-guard.

It wasn’t like James didn't swear up a storm on the regular, though he knew well enough to keep it clean when they were around clients and victims, or the general public—unless Albus was lingering somewhere in the crowd, in which case there was no avoiding it. But that was the thing; Teddy cursed too, but he had strict rules on language when they were in the Office.

Strict rules had gone firmly out the window ever since this morning. They both moved to speak, only to cut themselves off when the kid dropped the biscuit and buried his face in his hands. 

“Oh, oh no,” James said, his alarm sky-rocketing at a worrying velocity. “Don't cry, Ted’s just being an idiot. You’re fine, okay?”

But even as James climbed out of his chair, his face set in a concerned sort of softness, it became starkly apparent that he didn't need to comfort anyone. The kid lifted his head and showed bright, ecstatic eyes. He was laughing. His shoulders were shaking, and there was almost a hint of despair in the way he laughed, or perhaps resignation, but he was still laughing. 

“You’re laughing,” Teddy said. Because he couldn’t quite get past that fact. 

The kid kept laughing, but Teddy didn't find anything funny about the words he managed to get out: “It’s a truth spell.”

* * *

“You’re on a beach, and you see Victoire flirting with a lifeguard. Does it bother you?”

Teddy ripped open a packet of rice, silently fuming. But the silence didn't last for long. 

“Yes,” he said. 

James made a thoughtful noise and tapped his foot on the floor. His bare foot, because even though Teddy liked people to wear socks in his flat, James didn't care. Well, he _cared,_ but not enough to outweigh the obscene level of comfort that he reached the minute he stepped foot through Teddy’s door. 

“I don't want to answer your questions,” Teddy said. 

He picked up the rice and carefully poured it into the rice-cooker, but little grains spilled over the side anyway, blemishing the sparkling countertops. The minute he got home, Teddy had pulled every single duster and cleaning fluid out of the cupboards and set to work with a vengeance, cleaning the Muggle way, until his wrists ached. He only stopped when James waltzed through the door with a bag full of paperwork, poked his head around the kitchen and said, “You know it smells like a hospital in here, right? And we both know you’re only doing this because you want to control something, but you don't need to worry, ‘coz I have a plan.”

The dusters had gone back inside the basket, shut away in the cupboard beneath the sink, and Teddy had focused on making dinner instead. Something that wouldn’t make his home smell like a hospital. But that had apparently been all the invitation James needed to make himself at home at the kitchen table, and keep asking questions. 

“You know Vic would kick your ass for assuming she couldn’t handle herself,” James said, tapping the nib of his quill against his lip. “Unless it bothers you because you’re jealous of the lifeguard? Orrrr, maybe _you_ want some lifeguard action, huh?”

“Don't project,” Teddy tried to say, but what came out instead was, “Don't project, I’m not jealous, I want action but not a lifeguard.” Or some variation of that; the words were vaguely jumbled, but the main gist was transparent. He put the empty rice packet down slowly and carefully, with gritted teeth, and turned to look James right in his guilty, guilty face. “Stop asking so many questions. We already know it’s a truth spell, you don't need to experiment.”

Hastily, James put the quill down and stood up. When Teddy had Disapparated without a further word, back in the Office, James had been left with the clean-up. He was still in his work clothes, though the deep blue robe they had to wear was draped over the back of the kitchen chair. There was a time when James wouldn’t be caught dead in anything that wasn’t joggers, Quidditch gear, or stupidly ragged jeans. Now he showed up to work in smart trousers that clung to his calves, emphasising the muscled curve of his thighs, still toned from handling a broom with ease every weekend. 

It made it very hard to look away from him. Mind you, Teddy would have had trouble looking away from James no matter what he wore. But that was exactly the kind of thing he didn't want to blurt out when James was standing right there, looking at him with that optimistic kindness that made his life so much sweeter. 

“Sorry,” James said, with a brief flash of teeth, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m not trying to … okay, yeah. I was trying to do exactly what it sounds like, because we’ve never seen a proper truth spell before and I got curious. But you’re right. We don't need to prove that it’s a truth spell. But it’s not every day that your work partner slash best bud gets hit with something like this, so you can’t blame me.” James grinned, and leaned in closer to nudge him slightly, their elbows colliding. “Anyway, it’s not like you’ve got secrets to keep from me, right?”

The word left Teddy’s throat with all the elegance of wet sawdust, grating against his tongue, but it was still perfectly audible. “Yes.”

James’s smile faded a little, just enough to cloud the room. “What? Yes, you have secrets, or yes, you don't keep secrets? Wow, this is confusing.”

“I have secrets,” Teddy said, and swallowed roughly. “To keep.” He tried desperately to keep his mouth closed, but it was no use. “From you.”

He pressed his lips together, but the damage was already done. James’s smile faded altogether, leaving nothing but a blank sort of disbelief behind. The silence that settled felt like dust on his shoulders, like an attic full of long-dead and forgotten things had been cleaned, leaving only skin and quiet behind. Except there was none of the relief that cleaning brings; this didn't feel like all the boxes had been opened and emptied out, with memories put to rest. This was an open box in a dusty attic, and Teddy was keeping the lid taped shut. 

“Oh,” James said, rallying a half-second later than he usually would. And _that_ was what really clued Teddy in more than anything, more than the hollow tone of surprise. James was all quick reactions and immediate responses. He hit the ground and bounced, rather than rolling. He tripped and called it a run-up. If there was something James could be counted on for, it was his grin in the face of something surprising, and how quickly he could laugh when the occasion called for it. 

Teddy almost wanted to beg for James to ask, so that he could tell more truths and get rid of this awful feeling, but he held back. 

“That makes sense,” James said, still scratching the back of his neck, eyes tilted downward. He smiled, but it was smaller than usual. “Ha, be a bit weird if we knew everything about each other. I already have to see you every day, and deal with your weird neurosis, and your tea-making, which takes, like, three years per mug. Hey, here’s a question for you.”

There was a mischievous glint in James’s eye that put Teddy on edge, but at least the painfully awkward mood was dissipating. 

“I don't want to know,” Teddy said, but he cocked his head to the side, and he knew James knew what that meant. 

“There’s a rumour going round the office that you were born at the tender age of ninety-four,” James said, in a hushed, dramatic whisper. He put his hand out like he was holding a microphone, and said, “Can you confirm or deny this accusation of your incredibly old age, Mr Lupin?”

Teddy shoved him away, and he laughed as he rocked backwards on his heels, pocketing his make-shift microphone. With his head tipped back and the noise dancing off the kitchen walls, disturbing that settled dust, he didn't see or hear Teddy murmur, “You’ll always make me feel young.”

* * *

The kid was called Zach Avery, and he confirmed three things for the Office. The first was that the tobacco pipes were imbued with a deep violet smoke that forced the inhaler to tell the truth when asked a direct question. The second thing was that Mundungus Fletcher had hired him, but only through word of mouth. The third, and perhaps most worrying thing of all for anyone that wasn’t Teddy, was that Zach really hadn’t been trying to sell the tobacco pipes.

“He didn't say much, but I think that’s because he didn't know much,” James said, both hands pressed against the desk as he frowned down at the pile of reports. “He never saw Mundungus, but he heard his voice through a modified Howler. A couple of older kids approached him at an arcade, of all places, and offered him the job. All he had to do was take the bag of pipes to Hoop Street and make sure someone heard about it.”

“That’s it?” Teddy tapped his wand against the nearest report, and the relevant sentences glowed blue. “Well, that’s a problem.”

“You can say that again,” Harry said. 

The Head Auror’s Office was spacious, filled only with a desk, a few oak chairs, and a filing cabinet that was so over-spelled that it might as well have been its own dimension by now. Harry rubbed his temple on the other side of the desk, shadowed by a backdrop of trees. The Department was deep in the Ministry, but the back wall was an entire window, spelled to look like a forest covered in snow. It was the Forest of Dean, thick with falling snow and the occasional soft-footed deer, though very few were aware that it wasn’t just a glamourized poster. It threw a sheen of sugary white over the room. 

“If Zach never saw Mundungus, and never had contact with him beyond letters, then we can’t assume that he’s still in London.” Harry’s expression darkened. “Dung’s tricky, and I wouldn’t go so far as to say that he’s dangerous, but he’s not harmless either. He’s out for his own gain, and that’s it. But I didn't think he was clever enough to lay down bait like this.”

“You think that’s what he’s doing?” James leaned away from the desk and dropped into a chair, brushing his hair out of his eyes. Even that simple action sent a spark through Teddy’s stomach, and he purposefully inclined his head, keeping his eyes fixed on the reports. 

“To be honest, I don't know. We don't know enough. But you’ve chased a dozen kids not too dissimilar to this one, all with different stories and disguises, and even though you’re both brilliant, you’ve never caught the real guy. I don't think that’s on you.”

“Brilliant, huh?” James grinned, but there was something a little tired about it. “Nice, Dad. Been a while since you soothed my wounded ego.”

Last night was… awkward. And Teddy hated to even think about it, but he’d been a little relieved when James bowed out at eleven, citing a need to get home and make sure Albus wasn’t camped out on his sofa again, or that Hugo hadn’t set fire to anything. The quiet flat usually felt empty without James in it, but Teddy had revelled in the silence. He’d sat on the floor with his heart in his throat and tried not to think about how easily this could all slide away, with only one misplaced question, one slip of the tongue. 

Teddy didn’t even know the whole truth about what he was trying so hard to hide, and it was terrifying that he might find out like this. 

“Your ego is far too big for one person to soothe,” Harry told him, though it was clear from the smile at the corner of his mouth that he was only teasing. “In any case, like I said, I didn’t think Dung was clever enough to lay down something like this.” 

“So either he’s wised up enough to work out how to keep us off his trail, or he’s got someone pulling the strings.”

“I’d go with the latter.” Harry sighed. “But that’s not your priority.” 

Teddy straightened up, a small spark of indignation flooding through him. “You can’t be serious.” 

“You can’t kick us off the case,” James chimed in, sitting up with his usual charming flail of limbs. Teddy didn’t know how someone so smooth and graceful on a broom could be such a disaster when faced with the challenge of sitting down normally. 

“Calm down,” Harry said, holding up both hands peaceably. “I’m not kicking anybody off anything. There’s barely a case in the first place, but we gave it to you because of the Cursed element.” 

Harry was lying, Teddy realised, with no small amount of surprise. He didn’t know what about, but there was something in Harry’s voice that gave him away. Or maybe it was simply knowing him so well. 

“The Healers ruled out a Jinx or a Hex as the source of the problem in the smoke inhalation case, but now it seems like Teddy’s afflicted with something different. Which means two Curses, at the very least.” 

“Which is all the more reason to keep us on board,” James said, with a pointed little jerk of his head, like he wanted Teddy to join in, but Teddy was still stuck on the word Harry used. Afflicted. _Afflicted,_ like he had some sort of disease or condition that might ruin everything they’ve worked for, something that would seep into the pores and souls of people around him. He grimaced at the reports, where the statements still flashed in hues of yellow and blue. 

A stapler hit him in the shoulder. 

“Ow,” Teddy said, backing up a step with a startled blink. “What was that for?”

Harry waved his wand, and the stapler zoomed off the rug and onto the desk, settling amongst the pots of quills and paper clips. Vaguely, Teddy registered the sound of James snickering into his hand, but he was preoccupied by the piercing stare levelled at him by the man he respected most in the world. 

“You’re worrying when you don't need to be,” Harry said. “It’s a Curse, and I want you to get checked out by one of the On-Duty Healers, just to be sure that there’s no negative effects. But you’re not contagious, or compromised. You can still work. I just want you to focus on dismantling the Cursed Objects, since that’s where your skills lie. You said it was a tobacco pipe?”

“Yes, he had a bag of twenty, but one fell out and I picked it up,” Teddy said, the words pulled from him unwillingly even though he would have said them anyway, and that was another frustrating thing. There was no difference in sensation between telling the truth because he wanted to, and telling the truth when he would have told a lie. The pull was the same; like someone had gripped the very end of his tongue in an iron pinch, and up, up, up the words came. 

“Zack heard some of the other boys talking, the ones under Dung’s disguise spells,” James said, “and he reckons everyone was given a bag of Objects, but he doesn’t know what they were Cursed with, or if they were all tobacco pipes.”

“We’ll look into it,” Harry said. “For now, you just worry about identifying that Curse.”

* * *

Scorpius Malfoy was a Healer beyond comparison. He had a steady smile and a sort of nervous energy that put his patients in mind of birds, flitting from place to place. The first few years of his training had been a messy exercise in learning to be confident, to trust his own instincts and skills, but now even the swift, darting way he flitted around was laced with an aura of capability.

It was the reason why Teddy felt remarkably safe in his hands despite the non-stop muttering and the jerky wand movements pointed at his face. 

“Any fever? Flux in temperature?” Scorpius asked, staring deeply at the blue scans in the air, like they had offended him. “I can’t find anything concrete at a first glance.”

“You don't have to sound so—no fever, no flux.” Teddy grit his teeth. Disappointed, he’d been trying to say. You don't have to sound so disappointed. But the Curse wouldn’t even let him finish a sentence before the rest of the words came up, up, up. 

“You’re flustered,” Scorpius stated. “Is that due to the nature of this supposed truth spell, or because you’re hiding medical problems again?”

“He can’t hide anything like this,” James said, with an odd note in his voice, while Teddy muttered an answer. 

James was leaning against the closed door, a sunny smile plastered on his face. It didn't look false, but it was. Teddy—as much as he might downplay such a thing—knew James like the back of his hand. He knew what James looked like when he was really, truly happy. 

“I’m not sure that’s true,” Scorpius mused, tilting his head thoughtfully. “Have you tested it? What was your control? Do you know for sure what kind of Curse it was, or are you simply guessing based on a few isolated incidents?”

“Wait,” James said, straightening up in alarm. 

“We tested it—I hurt Jamie’s feelings—there was no control we just asked questions and it was—I know for sure because I’m the one forced to tell the truth, Scorpius, please stop asking so many questions at once, you’re giving me a headache.”

James’s hand came down on Teddy’s shoulder while he bowed his head and bit his tongue. It felt violating, almost, to have even the most simplest truths bared on display. It should have been his choice, and now the choice was gone, and there was nothing he could do to hide from it. 

James squeezed his shoulder, his touch warm and welcome. His hands were smaller than most people expected, if you judged by the broad frame and the willowy height. James was not bulky by any sense of the word, but there was a quality to him that made him so much bigger, so much more of a character that everything small about him seemed impossible and out of place. 

“So, he’s clear then? No problems aside from the headache?”

“None that I can see,” Scorpius said, sounding soft and worried. “Sorry, Teddy. And hey, you’re free to go back to work, which means you’re free to go to the pub tonight, right?”

Teddy pulled his head out of his hands and shot Scorpius a wan smile. He had his bottom lip tucked between his teeth, nervous, and he had stopped flirting his wand about. 

“I’m free, yes,” Teddy admitted, because he didn't have another option. “Not sure I feel like it though.”

Scorpius chewed faster on his lip. “This whole ‘not asking questions’ thing is going to be quite difficult. Asking questions is my entire career. Oh, dear.”

James managed a small laugh, and leaned over to ruffle Scorpius’s immaculate, platinum hair. Teddy remembered one summer when he wandered into a room at the Burrow to find Scorpius with the most outrageously rumpled hair and a dazed look on his face, Albus standing a suspicious distance away, and he no longer believed the noises Scorpius made about needing to keep his hair pristine. But it still made him smile to watch the two of them bickering fondly, while Scorpius carefully arranged his fringe. 

Maybe more of this was what he needed. 

“I could make an appearance at the pub,” Teddy said. 

“That’s more like it,” James said, beaming at him. “A couple of drinks and some cheesy chips will do you the world of good, mate.”

“Not as professional of a diagnosis as I might have given, but comfort and companionship are pretty high up on the list for Curses like these. They tend to be isolating, rather than having a physical effect.” Scorpius fixed him with a very pinning look. “Don't isolate yourself before the Curse even has a chance to do so.”

“I—“ Teddy said, but the Curse cut him off before he could say, _don't know what you’re talking about._

James smirked at him. “Yes?” 

Glaring, Teddy got to his feet and stormed towards the door. “Thanks, Scorp. I’ll see you at the usual place. C’mon James, we’ve got a Curse to inspect.”

He heard James chuckle behind him, and then a round of furious whispering, but by then he’d caught sight of Zach Avery through the doorway to the kitchenette, and all his thoughts drifted gently out of his ear. Baz Owens was in charge of re-locating the kids, and Addison had gone to fetch him twenty minutes ago. He should have been here by now, escorting Zach to a temporary home. But instead, Zach was holding one of the tobacco pipes in a peculiar fashion, almost like a phone, and was glancing about furtively. There was a look of fear on his face, and it made Teddy’s blood boil. 

“James,” Teddy said, quite calmly, cutting off the whispers. “Zach Avery is still here, and he’s using one of the pipes to communicate with someone.”

* * *

Three pipes lay in smithereens on the desk.

“This is a fine mess we’ve gotten ourselves into,” James said, prodding one of the pipe pieces with the tip of his wand. “And the week’s barely even begun.”

The first pipe was the one that held a secret communication spell. It was a smaller, thinner, long-lasting orb that somehow laid dormant until it was activated by an incantation. It allowed two people to talk back and forth for as long as the incantation held. When Teddy blew open the door and marched in with his wand held aloft, Zach’s grip on the incantation and the pipe had faltered, and the orb had shattered into pieces. It had taken the whole coat’s worth of pipes with it. 

“It feels like three weeks rolled into one.” Teddy grunted. “Look at this. See the line down the side?”

The second pipe was seemingly just a normal pipe, salvaged from the coat pocket where the other pipes had been awaiting an evidence locker, but the connected pieces formed a neat, thin line down the side of the pipe. 

“Looks like a groove,” James agreed. “Some kind of slot. You think he was using the pipes to transport materials? Or this was an earlier model and he didn't want to waste it, so he used it to bulk up the stock that Zach was carrying around?”

They were talking, of course, about Mundungus Fletcher, a wretchedly dumb figure of a man that didn't have the brainpower to do any of this, if you asked Teddy. 

“I think Mundungus Fletcher is a wretchedly dumb figure of a man that doesn’t have the brainpower to do any of this.”

Because of course, James _had_ asked Teddy, and Teddy couldn’t lie. 

James gaped at him for a beat. Decked out in Repellent Robes, with a belt around his waist filled with tools, he painted a peculiar, pretty picture. Nobody looked good in protective uniform, but James somehow managed to pull it off. The silly look on his face did nothing to put Teddy off. There was a hot feeling in his chest that had nothing to do with embarrassment. 

“You…” James said, before bursting into laughter. “Wow, Ted. Don't hold back.”

“I _can’t_ hold back.”

Some of Teddy’s despair must have slipped into his voice, because James pulled a face halfway between apologetic and exasperated. 

“Oh, come on. It’s fine, Teddy. You’re not saying anything new, you’re just a bit blunter about it. And nobody likes Dung anyway, so you’re in the clear. You’re right, he is a bit thick, so whatever this groove is for, I don't think it’s intentional. We can focus on the rest of it for now.”

So they did. They ran test after test, casting spells until the whole room glowed with a faintly ghoulish hue. Each pipe piece was labelled and sketched up before being slipped into the correct cloth pouches for analysis. Teddy was pretty terrible at the sketches, but James hated the labelling side of things, so they balanced the work fairly evenly. It was the smallest cog in the machine that made their teamwork so great, but it still turned smoothly. 

“Last pipe,” James announced, putting down his pencil and flexing his fingers. He preferred to sketch in pencil, and then use a Lining Spell to ink the diagram. The folders in the filing cabinet wouldn’t accept anything other than the most precisely-inked diagrams; they spat them back out immediately. James’s face the first time it happened had been hilarious. 

“It’s the Truth Curse pipe,” Teddy said. “There might not be any smoke left, but please be careful, Jamie.” 

“Who says I’m touching that thing?” 

Teddy lifted his gaze and glared. There were many things he could say to that, ranging from _you live to cause trouble_ and _you’re usually the one to say you’re touching something, and then you touch it, and everything goes tits up._

He settled on, “It's your job,” and the Truth Curse allowed him to stick to the simple truth. 

“You’re already afflicted,” James pointed out. “Doesn’t make much sense for both of us to catch this thing, and if there’s anything left in there, at least it won’t have an effect on you.”

The way James smiled so sweetly made Teddy wonder if he was being punished for something. 

The pipe was still stubby, but it was no longer as small or as good condition as it once was. The explosion from the orb had blasted the other three pipes and burned Zach’s arm; he was being healed by a very fussy Scorpius in a nearby medical wing. The pieces of the pipe were nowhere near as heavy as the original put-together piece, obviously, but there was a quality to their weight that Teddy would characterise as expensive. 

“It’s this one, I’m sure of it,” Teddy said, lifting a thin tool and turning over the nearest piece. “Whatever’s landing the victims in the hospital has something to do with this pipe.”

“Wait, what?” James paused, lowering his hands. “What makes you say that?”

“It feels connected.” For once, Teddy didn't mind the truth pouring out of him. “We were chasing a lead when we found this one in particular, and we always suspected Mundungus of being involved in this smoke inhalation case. And I inhaled smoke, didn't I? I think Mundungus is a figurehead, a front for something bigger, something that’s still connected to all of this.”

“You’d be right,” Harry said, opening the door. He wore Repellent Robes, hastily buttoned up, and he was holding a mask over his face. He didn't step any further into the room. James grabbed up his own mask and fitted it over his ears, covering the sheepish tilt to his mouth. 

“There was a bid not to tell you any of this, considering there’s a lot we don't know,” Harry said. “I overruled. I know I said differently earlier, but that was a lie. We think we know who’s behind these attacks, and we think we know where they’ll strike next. Scorpius Malfoy is working with his father to develop a cure for the victims and for your particular Curse, Teddy, but that may take some time. I want you on the Case even if you don't feel any less loose-lipped tomorrow, but I’ll make exceptions if you really don’t feel up to it, understand?”

James straightened up, catching onto his father’s alarm, his brow furrowing with worry. “Dad, what’s going on? Why the sudden turnabout?”

Harry lowered his mask with a deep sigh. There was worry in every line of his face, and concern, and pain. 

“Harry,” Teddy said, softly, catching James’s glance out of the corner of his eyes. 

“Addison was just taken into hospital with a case of Unnatural Smoke Inhalation. They found her halfway to Baz’s office, with one of these confiscated tobacco pipes in her pocket. According to Scorpius, her lungs were swelling at an alarmingly rapid rate, but they think they can stop it. That’s two of you.”

Addison Flack was the Department Head for the small offices where Teddy and James worked. She was a very kind, almost mousy woman, though her heart of gold was hidden behind a steel cage; she didn't take any nonsense. She was perhaps the most talented Curse Breaker in the Ministry, and it seemed wrong on all counts that anything could bring her down. 

“What do you mean, two?” James glanced frantically between everyone, his voice rising in pitch. “You don't think they were targeting Teddy, do you?”

Teddy swallowed thickly. His pulse felt like it was soaring, like it was running a race around his body, intent on reaching the finish line. He sat down in the nearest chair, the Repellent Robes crinkling like tissue paper beneath him. 

“I can’t rule it out,” Harry said frankly. “I wish I could. I doubt they’re targeting you directly, Teddy, but they want to reach someone in the Ministry. Addison should recover with Malfoy's help—God, that’s a sentence I never thought I’d say—but it’s risky to send you both on the team, no matter what happens. That’s why I’m telling you now. They leave tomorrow evening, so I want you to take the rest of today off to think about what you want to do.”

* * *

“Stop hovering,” Teddy said, exasperated, as he picked up his scarf. “You’re worried, but you don't need to be.”

“Stop hovering, he says,” James parroted, rolling his eyes. “He, who got hit by a Curse, and was probably meant to be in the hospital right about now. I’m allowed to be worried about you, Ted.”

“Yeah, but you don't need to. Have you thought anymore about what Harry said?”

“In the last ten seconds?” James asked, ignoring Teddy’s spoken affirmative, ripped from him by the Truth Curse. “No, not really. I thought it was a given that we weren’t going.”

Teddy paused with the two ends of his scarf half-tied. “Pardon?”

“I said, I thought it was a given—”

“I heard what you said.”

“Then don't ask me to repeat myself.”

They didn’t normally fight, so the unsettled feeling in Teddy’s stomach made sense, but was unwelcome all the same. Teddy sighed very heavily and set about buttoning up his coat. 

“Teddy,” James said, sounding upset. It pulled and twisted at Teddy’s heart, but he wasn’t about to back down without a fight. 

“We don't even know if this _was_ a targeted attack, and Harry said as much. There’s no point in delaying the inevitable. We’re going to have to face whoever’s doing this if we want answers for any of the Curse effects, let alone the one on me. This is _our_ case. And I can take care of myself, Jamie.”

“I know you can take care of yourself.” James’s cheeks were red with frustration, his pretty freckles obscured under the heat, but he still stalked forward and started manhandling Teddy’s scarf, wrapping it more securely around him. “I know you’ve got this big image to maintain where you don't rely on anyone, but I thought we’d gotten past that. I thought we could rely on each other.”

“We can.” Teddy blinked in surprise; this close, he could smell James’s aftershave, and it was making him dizzy. “We always can. This isn’t about that.”

“You were _targeted,_ Teddy.”

“We don't know that!”

“Teddy,” James said urgently, catching him off-guard as he grabbed Teddy’s scarf. “You know how I feel about you, don't you?”

It was written all over him: James was worried. His eyes were warm and big and brown, and he was biting his bottom lip. He was worried and scared and nervous for Teddy. It made Teddy warm all over, to see that sort of fous directed at him, but it also made him fear for his own safety. Not because he thought James would harm him, but James had the very real capacity to hurt Teddy. One wrong word, and Teddy would crumble. One wrong question, and Teddy wasn’t sure what damage the answers would do when they came tumbling out of his unwilling mouth. 

The bottom line was, James was worried for his partner, and it was Teddy’s job to reassure him that he didn't need to be. 

“Of course I know how you feel,” Teddy murmured, prying James’s hands away and holding them gently. “That doesn’t matter right now, though. We have to do our job, so you’re going to have to put it all aside and focus on that. You’ve got my back, and I’ve got yours. That’s enough, right?”

James’s wrists went slack in his grip. His eyes had an odd, empty quality to them, like he’d been hit with an Imperio. He dropped his hands and let out a shaky laugh, rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous gesture. 

“Right, right, I guess I just thought…” James said, stuttering off. “Well, never mind what I thought, I guess.”

Teddy eyed him uncertainly, finishing up the loop on his scarf. When he was done, and ready to go, James still hadn’t moved. He was simply staring at the floor with a pensive expression. On anyone else, Teddy might have called it _lost._

“Jamie?” Teddy said, pausing at the door. “The pub?”

“Right, yeah,” James said. “You know what, I think I’m gonna skip the pub tonight, actually. I might go and see Addy at the hospital, see if she’s okay, if they’ll let me. But you should go.”

Teddy stared at him blankly. “But you never skip the pub, and Albus is gonna be there. James? You okay?”

But James was not under a Truth Curse, and so when he laughed and said _yes, I’m fine, see you later,_ before rushing from the room, Teddy had no choice but to pretend that it had not been a lie.

* * *

_The Giant’s Toe_ was an ugly establishment at the very end of Diagon Alley, which very few people frequented when _The Leaky Cauldron_ was available. It was clean, but not very nicely-decorated, which was precisely why Albus had declared it their regular spot. Scorpius claimed it was just a brief rebound of his edgy phase. James claimed that Albus had never left the edgy phase, and had in fact been the only edgy baby born into this world, which only made him edgier. Albus claimed that they were all pricks.

Teddy never knew what any of them were talking about, but _The Giant’s Toe_ had ale, and elf-made mead, and Firewhisky, and that was what mattered. 

“Over here,” Albus called, when Teddy pushed open the door that evening, buttoned up to the nines and wearing a thick, red scarf. The scarf was tattered and worn, but Dominique had made it for him a few Christmasses ago, and he wasn’t one to give up on a gift just because it looked a little weathered. He could still feel James’s pulse under his fingertips as he held his wrists, stopping them from tying and untying the scarf. 

Teddy unwound it and draped it over the back of the booth, reaching in to give Albus a brief hug. 

“Just us?” Albus asked. “Scorpius can’t make it tonight, and he told me to tell you he’s sorry. He’s on-call again, but I thought you were bringing Jamie.”

Teddy thought so too. 

“Just us. Something came up.”

Albus studied him carefully. He was dressed casually, in a dark blue shirt and a jacket that he’d unbuttoned but had yet to take off. There was a glass gathering condensation on the table. It was remarkably soothing to see him look so content and at ease after years of uncertainty and crippling self-esteem issues. It made Teddy want to hug him again. 

“Buy me a drink and I’ll let you complain,” Albus offered.

Teddy laughed, and moved to grab his wallet. 

Half an hour later and he was very red in the face, facing a hangover from hell, and comfortably full of cheesy chips. But he kept the beers coming while Albus chimed in every now and again, listening to his rants with single-minded focus. 

“He wasn’t happy, I could tell. He was just standing there smiling while Scorpius checked me over. I know what James looks like when he’s happy. Not that pretend shit where he tries to make everyone feel better, or bullshit his way through life by feigning joy or whatever.” Teddy took a gulp of his beer and slammed the bottle back down on the table. “Really, truly happy.”

Albus looked at the sticky puddle of beer forming underneath Teddy’s bottle. Then he looked at Teddy’s face, and his eyes were dark and knowing, almost pitying. 

“People at Hogwarts used to say that Scorpius was quiet.”

Teddy blinked rapidly. “What?”

“See, I’ve been here. People at Hogwarts used to say that Scorpius was so quiet and mousy, that he didn’t have anything to add to a conversation. Sure, he rambled in class when teachers asked a question, but otherwise they thought he was some Malfoy prick, trying to be cold and aloof.”

Teddy tipped the beer bottle gently by the neck, back and forth, waiting. 

“But Scorpius isn’t quiet.” Albus smiled slightly, his gaze softening. “He’s loud and weird and funny. The other night he woke up in the middle of the night and told me that he felt sorry for peanut butter because it wasn’t a proper butter, and then he went back to sleep. He made our mailman afraid to deliver parcels because he rambled about sea butterflies for, like, a solid five minutes. The guy was just trying to deliver his Muggle textbooks.”

“What’s your point, Al? Not that this isn’t sweet.”

“It’s very sweet,” Albus said, narrowing his eyes slightly. “But the point is that I didn't see any difference. Scorpius has always been like this, loud and funny and weird. But people in Hogwarts used to call him quiet, and a coward, and uninteresting, and I realised there was a reason I was the only one who saw the truth. And I mean really saw it, plain as day.”

“And what was the reason?” Teddy asked, mildly, even though his heart was pounding and he was sweating at the neck and he desperately wished Albus wouldn’t turn the question around and force the truth out of him. 

Albus almost looked like he was considering it. But eventually he scoffed, rolled his eyes, and tossed a packet of smoky bacon rashers over the table. 

“Eat your crisps, and figure it out for yourself.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He loved James. He was possibly very much in love with James. It was the only thing that made sense. The only thing that didn't make sense was how long it had taken him to see it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhhhh I edited as best as I could but if I’ve left any plot holes in then I’m desperately sorry!! Hopefully it’s still good. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you like the last part!! <3

Teddy Apparated into the Atrium at five o’clock in the morning, sharp. His head was cloudy with the after-effects of Hangover Potion, and there was an acrid taste on his tongue from the thick, slimy liquid. It was a disgusting, life-saving nectar. 

This early, there were only a few people scattered about the Ministry. Several of them were huddled near the Floo ports, chattering to one another. Teddy recognised one mop of flaming red hair immediately. 

“Rough night, Lupin?” Ron said, clapping Teddy on the shoulder with a knowing grin. 

“Fucking horrible,” Teddy muttered. 

Ron chortled. He no doubt knew all about Teddy’s Truth Spell woes from Harry, although it was less likely that he knew about the love-related woes. 

Because Teddy, in true Lupin form, had come to the realisation that he was in love only when he was waist-deep in alcohol and his bed covers, wide awake at the crack of dawn. He laid there all night, turning Albus’s words over and over like clay until the misshapen lump of confusion turned into something tangible, something he could hold and recognise. 

He loved James. He was possibly very much in love with James. It was the only thing that made sense. The only thing that didn't make sense was how long it had taken him to see it. 

“Well, buck up your ideas, mate, because this one isn’t going to be easy. I have a bad feeling,” Ron was saying, when Teddy yanked himself out of his rose-coloured musings. “Harry’s hoping for a simple extraction plan, but it never goes down like we hope it will. Still, no use worrying about it until we’re there, I guess.”

“Extraction? Who are we extracting?” 

Ron shook his head. “Not a who, a what. We’re extracting an artefact, something we think the people behind this are using as a trap. Maybe. Nobody’s really clear on anything, but we’re going in anyway, since apparently that’s how we do things around here.”

Harry’s laughter interrupted their conversation. He had crept up behind them silently and was grinning at Ron, who shrugged as though he couldn’t care less that he’d been overheard. 

“Nice to know you’ve got my back on this, Ron.”

“You know I’ve always got your back,” Ron said seriously. “I just think you’re listening too hard to the higher-ups on this.”

“The higher-ups are your wife and most of America, so I don't think I could ever listen too hard. If I stopped paying attention in a meeting for even a second, Hermione would skin me alive like an olive.”

“Are olives alive?” Teddy muttered to himself. 

“Teddy, good to see you’re in top condition.” Harry wrapped him in a brief hug and then looked at him keenly. “You’re coming then?”

Teddy was going, because in his eyes there simply wasn’t another option. He wasn’t compromised to the point that he couldn’t work, and even if he was being targeted, there were worse places to be than huddled together with a group of top Aurors. 

“Yeah, but I don't know about James.” Teddy hesitated. “He wasn’t too keen on me coming today, and then we had a… a disagreement. I haven’t spoken to him since last night.”

Maybe it was the mournful tone in his voice that made Harry and Ron share a long, knowing look, but Teddy didn't appreciate it. 

“It begins,” Ron muttered. 

“Hey,” Teddy said, elbowing him, red-faced. He buried his face in his hands and leaned back against the marble pillar, groaning. “Merlin, this sucks.”

“There, there,” Harry said, patting him on the shoulder. 

“Fuck off. Did everyone know?”

“You’re talking to the Head of the Department, you know,” Harry said, so lightly that it didn't even register as idle conversation, let alone a warning. “You could learn to mind your language. And yes, everyone knew. Freddie tried to get us to place bets, but Albus threatened to set fire to his dragon skin jacket if he did.”

“Called him an edgy prick, too, which is rich coming from him,” Ron added, somewhat gleeful. 

Teddy groaned again. He rubbed his eyes and lowered his hands, turning to face his Godfather and taking in those careful green eyes. Harry always looked at him like he was something special, and Teddy did his utmost every day to prove him right, but lately he felt a little like he might have dropped the ball in that department. 

“Calm down,” Harry said quietly. “It’s not like we were talking about it behind your back, or watching from the bushes. Everyone’s pretty much on board with it. We were just waiting for you to get here, that’s all.”

Tentative, Teddy said, “Did James know?” 

Harry hesitated, and then he said, rather gently, “I think James hoped.”

Teddy didn’t know what to do with that information, but luckily, there wasn’t time to figure it out. 

Somewhere deep in the pockets of Harry’s cloak, a device chimed. He pulled it out and revealed a small cog-like creation, with rotation gears and little sparks flying off the ends. It looked like a fire hazard. 

Harry rotated one of the gears and nodded. “Okay, it’s time. We’re taking the Floo to an undisclosed location in the South-West, and the rest of the details will be handed out when we arrive. Understand?”

There were only two other Aurors present: Edgehorn and Jenkins. They each carried a bag stuffed to the brim, and they were dressed in Muggle clothing, dark jeans and plaid shirts. The lengths they had gone to in order to match was somewhat conspicuous, but it was better than waltzing down a country lane in flowing emerald robes. 

Teddy nodded to each of them, but his head was somewhere far away. 

He didn't come back down to earth until James bumped him aside, a cheerful smile painted across his cheeks. Teddy could see the places where the elasticity had worn thin, pulling at his mouth. 

“Hi,” Teddy said, breathless suddenly. 

That dizzy feeling was back. It was like he was seeing James for the first time. He found himself immersed in every inch of James, in the overwhelming quantity of freckles that adorned his tanned skin, in the soft curls of auburn hair near his temples, where it had grown a little too long. James’s eyes were still the same warm brown they had always been, but now Teddy couldn’t look away. Or maybe he had never been very good at looking away. 

“Hi yourself. Ready?”

“I’m all packed,” Teddy said, “but I wanted to talk to you.”

“Nah, we don't have to do that.” 

“But I want to.”

“Well, I don't,” James said pleasantly, and this time Teddy didn't need a curse to hear the truth. His stomach dropped. 

James’s grin didn't slip, and he waved at Ron, who had moved ahead to light the Fireplace. Harry stood nearby, watching them with a steady gaze as he coordinated their departure. He didn't move to intervene, nor did he seem eager to help Teddy out of this predicament. 

That was fine. He steeped himself. Teddy was the one who got himself into this mess, and he would have to get himself out of it. 

Because Teddy was in love with James, and James was mad at him, and that wasn’t something he could live with.

* * *

The fireplace spat them out at an elegant country resort. There were tall oak trees lining the brick driveway, where several gleaming cars were sliding smoothly into parking spaces made readily available for them. Teddy brushed off his trousers and turned away from the window to find James talking fast and low with Harry.

“I don't want it to interfere—” Harry said, breaking off as Teddy joined them. “Teddy. Good, right. This is where we’ll be for the rest of the weekend, but if everything goes to plan then you two should be able to head home tomorrow evening, and the rest is just clean up.”

“Don't put a Jinx on it, mate,” Ron said. 

Harry grimaced. “Right. The room keys are in your bags, just find your beds and meet back here in twenty minutes. I want to go over the details. Any problems, then ask for Maureen Durbridge on the front desk, and she should be able to help you out. She’s a Squib, so you don't have to hide your magic, but be discreet. This is still a Muggle venue.”

The interior of the resort was just as refined as the exterior. It boasted several acres of lush farmlands, but the inside was far more impressive: everything was made of posh imported wood and plush velvet. Extravagant chandeliers, hung from every beam, each one shining with dozens of wax candles. Teddy was a little worried about stepping too firmly on the arabesque floors, in case he left behind a scuff mark. 

“I didn't think there was anything like this in the South-West,” Teddy said, following James up a wide staircase that shone with polish. “I thought it was all pastries and pixies and horse-riding.”

“Mmm,” James said. 

Teddy grit his teeth. He tried a few more times to get an answer out of James, with no luck until they reached their shared room. There was, thankfully, more than one bed, but that didn't work in Teddy’s favour; he had forgotten one thing about James that he had never really needed to worry about before: James could be petty as hell. 

“You like the bed by the wall, don't you?” James said, striding towards the window. 

“No,” Teddy said. “James, I—”

“Whoops.” James upended the bag of clothes all over the bed nearest the window, a bright, sunny smile on his face. “Shame, that.”

“James, stop being a prat.” 

James’s false smile dropped away to reveal a cool, icy stare. It didn’t suit him. 

“I’m being a prat?” James said quietly. “I’m trying to make this as normal as possible. I’m trying not to make it weird and awkward. I’m _trying_ not to punch you in your stupid, pretty mouth, but you’re making it bloody hard.”

Teddy reeled backwards, but James stormed past him before he could come up with a rebuttal. The door to their room swung shut, and Teddy sighed into the silence. 

It was a nice room. There were two single beds, each dressed in thick tartan covers. There was a teatray on the far side of the room that boasted an entire jug of milk, and their very own kettle, but the rest of the space was bland and empty. But it was clean, and quiet, and there was nobody around to see Teddy drop down on the bed and put his head in his hands. 

Pretty mouth, James had said. Stupid, pretty mouth. 

“The stupid part is probably right,” Teddy murmured aloud to himself. 

Because he really didn't know what he had done to make James want to punch him, and it was starting to piss him off.

* * *

“An auction,” James repeated, staring dubiously at the plans laid out on the table. “You want us to infiltrate an auction?”

They had congregated in a small study at the back of the resort, begrudgingly leant to them by none of the rich owners. It was a stuffy room, only made worse by the strips of sunlight streaking across the desk and the walls, illuminating the dust and filling the space with pieces of heat. 

“This resort is holding one of the most world-renowned auctions in seventeen years,” Harry explained. “The guest list is exclusive, so much so that I can’t reveal who’s here, but you should know that it’s made up of Wizards and Muggles alike. Most of the Muggles are in the know, but anything odd will be dismissed as unimportant anyway. They only care about what’s up for grabs.”

“And what _is_ up for grabs?” Teddy asked, peering at a diagram of the auction room, complete with little name markers. Some had an initial, and some simply had a family sigil, and some were entirely blank. One was a rose, and one was a set of stars, and one of them looked like a circle with a serpentine face. “Must be pretty expensive, important stuff.”

“Each attendee must bring at least one item from the family storehold to be put up for sale,” Harry said. “They can bid on it if they want it back, but most don't. It’s a show of wealth, a power play. The more they bring to auction off, and the more they spend, the more power they hold. Reckless wealth, they call it.”

Ron muttered something unsavoury under his breath, moving several pieces across the diagrams. The serpentine face caught Teddy’s eye. 

“Quite,” Harry said, amused. “Anyway, we know the group behind the smoke inhalation case are here, we just don't know who they are, or what they brought with them.”

“How do you know they’re here if you don't know who they are?”

“Tracking spells,” butted in Edgehorn, with an exhausted sort of voice. “Lots and lots of tracking spells.”

His partner, Jenkins, seemed to find this hilarious. He chortled away, and then said, “We’ve been on the same case as you for weeks, but working a different angle. Every time one of the victims was found, we were sent to track the suspects. Didn't turn up much, and it all seemed like we were heading in one big circle, but we finally got a lead the other day, thanks to you two.”

James and Teddy shared a look, their tension momentarily forgotten. 

“Thanks to us?” Teddy said. 

“That kid you brought in, Avery, was it?”

“Zach, yeah.”

“Well, he was much more talkative than the other ones. They always had something to say to Baz, but this kid talked his ear off. Said the people in charge of him were called the Skin Sloughers.” 

Teddy grimaced. “That’s barely even a word.”

James said, “Of course that’s the bit that bothers you.”

“Apparently he was being threatened by these Skin Sloughers, although he wouldn’t say what about. He did let slip that the orb inside the pipe had been personally handled by the leader of the group.”

“Fingerprints,” James said, sounding surprised. “That’s how you tracked him? That’s very Muggle of you.”

“We’re not sure if it’s a man,” Harry said, stepping in again, and drawing their attention effortlessly. “Edgehorn and Jenkins did some excellent work, leading us here. We’ve considered whether or not it’s a trap, and I think we can safely assume it is, but as long as we’re careful, we should be fine. That’s why I insisted on a small team.”

“So, it’s probably a trap but we don't know how, the bad guys might be here but we don't know who they are, and there’s something we’re supposed to find, but we don't know what it is.” Teddy raised both eyebrows. “S’that sum it up?”

Ron grinned. “Just about.”

Edgehorn and Jenkin’s snickered, and even James looked like he was holding back a grin. It made Teddy’s heart soar, only to sink again when James turned away, face perfectly blank, to ask, “Who’s teaming up with who?”

Teddy had to bite his lip against the flood of indignant anger. The question wasn’t aimed directly at him, so the Truth Curse didn't pull at his tongue, but he still had to fight not to answer with, “Who the hell else would you be teaming up with?”

“You and Teddy are infiltrating the auction itself. Edgehorn and Jenkins are on security detail. You’ve all been in the limelight for this particular case, so you’ll need disguises if you want to make it through this without being spotted. Edgehorn, Jenkins, report to Ron for further instruction. James, Ted, you’re with me.”

Harry made them stand in a line as he wreathed them in Illusion charms and Notice-Me-Not spells. Teddy shuddered at the creeping, crawling sensation, tucking his hands up into his sleeves. They dressed in non-descript suits and followed Harry out into the corridor. 

“Everything intended to be auctioned off is kept in a safe-guarded room, near the back of the building. See if you can make your way there, but mingle when needed. The auction isn’t until this evening, so you’ll have to mill about until then to make it look like you didn't just pop out of nowhere.”

He handed them a piece of parchment each, detailing their back-story and Teddy combed through his quickly. 

“Ooh,” James muttered, seemingly too excited to remember that he was mad at Teddy. “We get to have a back-story. Look at this, you’re Theodore Vell, and I’m Dennis Clark. I don't look like a Dennis, though. Man, I should have been an Auror.”

The thought of James leaving to be an Auror sent ice through Teddy’s veins. He didn’t think it would happen, but it still made him frown and look away. 

“Take as much time as you need to memorise it, and then get started,” Harry said. “We’re not using orbs for this, not with what happened to the last one, so keep close and make sure to contact us if you need help. Ron and I will be around, looking for information too. And boys?”

“Yes?”

“Yeah?”

Harry’s stern, Auror face melted away to reveal something of a smirk. “Try not to get into any more trouble.”

* * *

The store-hold was at the back of the resort, a dining hall that had been repurposed specifically for the event. Three Security Wizards stood on guard outside the glossy double doors, but a flurry of spells had them all wandering down a side-corridor, eyes glazed and confused.

“Let’s get in and get out again,” Teddy muttered. “God knows I hate having to mingle. Who came up with mingling? I want to give them a good kick, whoever they are.”

James snickered. “You’re no fun. That last guy looked pretty keen on talking you into a stupor. What was he rabbiting on about, again?”

“The precise number of tassels needed to make a flying carpet look superior in the eyes of the lower classes—Jamie, please, don't make me relive it.”

James snickered again, and then went quiet. He ran his wand over the door handles, muttering, and disabled several spells, quick as a flash, while Teddy kept an eye on the corridor. There was a surprising lack of foot traffic in these areas, and it was making him antsy. 

“Hurry up,” Teddy hissed. 

“I’m trying,” James hissed back. “There’s a Deadlock Curse on the other side, and we don't want to get trapped in, do we?”

“Of course not, but—”

“Is there a problem with the doors, boys?”

Teddy whipped around at the familiar voice, but it wasn’t Harry or Ron, or Edgehorn or Jenkins. A short, middle-aged man with a heavily receding hairline and thin lips was eyeing them beadily. A gold watch flashed on his wrist, and there was a long lighter sticking out of the breast pocket on his suit. He looked utterly at ease in all this splendour. 

“They won’t open,” Teddy blurted out. He bit his bottom lip to keep more truths stumbling out. 

“Baz,” James said, shocked. 

Baz lifted an eyebrow, puzzled, but Teddy could detect a hint of nervousness in his voice. “Sorry, lad, I don't know any Baz. Bartholemew Wyvere, at your service. Have we had the pleasure of meeting before?” 

Teddy gaped at him, then slapped a hand over his mouth to stop himself from telling the truth. It was definitely Baz, the same guy who downed beers at the pub like it was going out of style, the same Baz who still turned up to work with free pork pies for everyone, the same Baz who was so friendly and cheerful and good with kids, but he spoke like all of that and everything else was beneath him. 

“Ah, no, we haven’t,” James said, reaching out a disillusioned hand and beaming widely. “Don’t mind him. Sorry, you just reminded me of an old friend, that’s all. Handsome chap, that, it’s a shame he isn’t about. Might liven up this party a tad!”

James gave a jovial laugh, elbowing Teddy at the same time and jerking him out of his daze. 

“Ah, yes, right. It’s been a bit dull so far.”

Baz eyed them for a little more, but his shoulders eventually relaxed. He held out a hand for James to shake, and Teddy caught a glint of a ring on his hand. It was a family ring, like the ones that the Malfoy’s wore, and it looked starkly familiar, but Teddy didn’t know why. Baz offered them a cigar from his pocket, and when they declined, he shrugged and lit one for himself. The lighter was an antique, with a carved steel stem, and the flame flared purple. 

“Not Muggles, are you?” Baz asked, when they didn't so much as flinch at the flame. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t be. Not many Muggles could get rid of three Security Wizards.”

“We didn't,” Teddy began, only to gag on the lie before it could fully form. 

“Nonsense, no need to be so modest.” Baz leaned forward and winked as though they shared a secret. “All of us here want a peek at the spoils. Me, I’ve got my eye on the dragon herself. We won’t find out til this evening, mind, so best you be on your way before someone less generous than I spots you.”

They had no choice but to dip away from the doors, following Baz down the long corridor and back into the crowd. James kept a light grip on Teddy’s elbow, wound tight, and stuck to his heels until Teddy was almost tripping over him. It didn't take long before they were both sneaking away, heading back to their room to retire for the evening, as Baz put it. 

He had not let them get more than a meter away since returning them to the crowd. 

“Something’s wrong,” James said, as soon as the door clicked shut behind them. “Why would Baz be here? I get why he didn't recognise us, but why would he be here in his own disguise?”

“I don't think it was a disguise.” Teddy sat down on the end of his bed, staring thoughtfully at his knees. “It doesn’t add up. He didn't know it was us, so there was no need to put on a front. He could have said his real name to a couple of strangers. Unless Bartholemew is his real name, and Baz is a cover.”

James clucked his tongue. “Bartholemew, huh. Poor kid.”

Teddy snorted. Then he flopped backwards on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. “Did you get all the spells off the door?”

“All apart from one.”

“The Deadlock Curse?”

“You guessed it.”

Teddy’s heart started beating faster. This was the first time they had been alone since arriving where James didn't seem openly mad at him. Either he had completely forgotten about whatever pissed him off, or he was giving Teddy a chance to talk about it.

“I can hear you thinking from all the way over here, big guy,” James said lightly, sitting on the opposite bed. “We’ve got an hour or so to kill before the big showdown. Don't wear that thing out before it’s time to use it.”

“What thing?”

“Your brain, Ted.”

“Ha.” Teddy sat up slowly, eyeing James warily. He looked friendly enough, perched there with his hands in his lap, head cocked like he was waiting for something. Some of that warmth was missing, but Teddy swallowed past the slight tremor of fear and spoke anyway. 

“Listen, I know I must have screwed up. And I still don't know what I did, not really. But I want to fix it, and there’s something I want to say.”

James bit his lip. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I didn't want to talk. But now it’s because I feel like a prick and I don't really want to think about it. We’re fine, okay? Everything’s fine.”

“No, it’s not fine. I want to know what I did so that I can fix it.”

James made a low sound, like he didn't know whether to laugh or sigh. “Seriously, Teddy, knock it off before I go back to being mad.”

“Fine, but I still have something to say, and it’s not about you being mad.”

There was a knock on the door. James, head tipped to the side, sprang to life and opened the door eagerly, finding Harry on the other side with a disappointed look on his face. 

“Did you even check to make sure I wasn’t a murderer?”

James made a thoughtful face. “Oh shit, yeah. Let me ask. Hey, are you a murderer, Dad?”

Harry sighed, slipping into the room. He double-checked the Silencing spells, locked the door, and then gave the two of them a searching look. 

“We didn't get into the room,” Teddy said, before he could ask. “Jamie got most of the spells undone, but we got waylaid before we could get inside and search. You’ll never guess who by.”

“Baz Owens, or Bartholomew Wyvere.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” James said, throwing his hands up. “Why are we even here?”

“To get into the room and search it for Cursed Artefacts,” Harry said, sounding deeply exasperated. “That’s the entire point of bringing you on this mission. If you don't find the Artefact by tonight, you’ll have to be present at the auction tomorrow to find it then. That’s precisely what I _don't_ want, because you’re not subtle, either of you.”

“How did you know Baz was here?” James demanded. 

Teddy stood up and started pacing. There wasn’t really enough room for him to pace, but he did his best thinking on the move. Harry graciously stepped aside to give him space, still talking, while James retreated to a bed. 

“We don't know how he’s connected to this, but we’re calling him a person of interest. He definitely has a cover, but we don't know if it’s his Ministry cover, or—”

“His posh twat cover?” James suggested. 

Teddy coughed, but it didn't entirely cover his laughter. James beamed quite proudly, and Harry inclined his head, agreeing without saying so. 

“His other cover, let’s say,” Harry said. “Edgehorn’s keeping an eye on him. By the way, I had a call for you from Scorpius, who says the Truth Curse should go away if you keep drinking cranberry juice, of all things, and no, I don't know why that’s the case.”

Teddy blinked rapidly, lifting a hand to rub at his throat, as though he could taste the tart sweetness already. 

“Think it can wait?” Harry asked. 

“As long as nobody asks for my name,” Teddy said. 

There was a beat of silence, before James sat bolt upright in bed, and Harry swore. 

“How the fuck didn't we think of that?” Harry rubbed his temples, groaning slightly. “Right, fine. You’re officially off this case. It’s not much of a cover, but I still don't want it blown just because somebody asked you _what brings you here?_ and you end up spilling your whole life story.”

“Harry,” Teddy began, but Harry was still shaking his head. 

“I’m not risking it,” Harry said. “Pack your stuff and meet me in the study where we planned everything. I’ll open the Floo. There are other Curse-Breakers.” His face softened at their dismay. “I’m sorry, boys, but it’s too risky, and we really need to end this case.”

“We understand,” James said, blank-faced. “Seriously, it’s fine. As long as someone catches these guys, then it’s fine.”

Harry tipped his head back and sighed, a deeply heavy sigh. He grabbed Teddy in a hug before he left, a warm hug that made the curdled parts of Teddy melt away. Then he kissed James on the forehead, and made his departure, holding up ten fingers as he left. 

Teddy rounded on James, who had already scrambled off the bed. 

“You’re giving in too easily,” Teddy accused him. “You’ve got something up your sleeve.”

“Not really. I just don't want to give in without a fight. C’mon, we’ve got ten minutes to investigate that store-room before Dad comes looking.”

James was too quick to grab, and he was out of the door before Teddy could do more than hiss his name. They didn't spot Harry in the corridor, nor did they find him in the crowded staircase, where everyone had pooled before they went down into the lounge for the items to be presented. There was an hour that evening of indulging and drooling over everything up for auction, but that wasn’t for another few hours. 

“We have time,” James insisted, hurrying down a side-passageway with Teddy at his heels. 

Teddy grabbed him by the sleeve, and James elbowed him away. When he whipped around, Teddy was shocked to see how upset he looked. 

“Look, I messed up with the Deadlock Charm, and with being pissed at you before we even started, but I’m not messing this up. If we can find the Artefact in the next ten minutes, we can go home knowing that we’ve helped the investigation.” 

“James, none of this is on you,” Teddy said softly, trying to hold him still. “This case was pretty much doomed from the minute I got hit by that Truth Curse—if I hadn’t, we’d still be able to carry it out.”

“Oh, don't start that self-deprecating shit now, Lupin.”

James shook him loose while Teddy gaped after him. 

“Seriously?” Teddy whispered furiously, as they paused for a group of people to flurry past. “You’re allowed to mope and blame yourself, but I’m not?”

James didn't dignify that with an answer. Teddy threw his hands up and kept following him, because even if James was being an idiot for some unknown reason, Teddy didn't have it in him to leave him behind. He wasn’t going to let James be an idiot alone. 

The double doors to the store-hold loomed ahead, as glossy and intimidating as ever. There were no Guards around at all this time, and no Baz lurking in the dark corners. 

Just to be sure, Teddy cast, “Homono Revelio,” and watched as the air remained clear and untainted. 

“We should be good,” James whispered. “The disguise spells won’t drop for another few hours, and the last Curse on the door just needs—”

But there was no time to find out exactly what the Curse needed, because the moment Teddy lowered his wand, the clatter of footsteps sounded from down a nearby corridor. Teddy sucked air through his teeth, and in a fit of panic, shoved James through the double doors. They creaked open, and slammed shut behind them. 

“What the fuck!” James whisper-shouted, stock-still over in Teddy’s grip. 

Teddy put a finger to his lips and listened. 

“Oh, I told the board I would have no trouble collecting the piece they require, so long as they pay handsomely for my time,” said one stiff voice from the other side of the door. “It’s all just money, isn’t it, at the end of the day.”

“Quite,” said another voice, in an even stiffer tone. “But that begs the question, of course, as to which particular purse will be empty by the time the night is over. Got your eye on anything for yourself, eh?”

“Oh, this and that. They say The Smoking Dragon’s worth a pretty penny, but Wyvere seems keen to get his hands all over that. Can’t say it interests me, personally, but I can appreciate a good faberge piece.”

The voices trailed off, along with the footsteps, leaving them in thoughtful silence. 

“Did you hear what he said about Wyvere?” Teddy mused. “That’s Baz’s fake name, isn’t it? Or real name, maybe.”

Or at least, Teddy thought it was a thoughtful silence, until James elbowed him harshly and started swearing. Apparently James had just been ruminating on the best place to strike him. 

“I told you I didn't remove the Deadlock Curse yet,” James hissed. “Now we’re stuck here until someone lets us out, and knowing my luck it’s going to be Dad. You can’t undo a Deadlock Curse from the inside, Teddy! That’s what I was trying to tell you!”

“What, are you pissed at me for this?” Teddy stared incredulously. “You’re the one that charged over here against Harry’s orders. I didn't decide we should go rogue!”

“I was _trying_ to make up for behaving like a child.”

Teddy snorted. “But you won’t tell me why you were behaving like a child.”

James made a mutinous noise and slammed his whole weight against the door, but it didn't budge. They were stuck. Stuck in this large dusty room that felt too small for all the tension it held. Teddy stepped back, running his tongue over his front teeth, and resolved to keep his mouth shut for as long as he could. James shouldered the door again, before giving in with a bout of furious swearing, running his fingers through tangled auburn curls. 

“You know what?” James said suddenly, turning to him with a dark look in his eye. “Yeah. I _am_ pissed at you.” 

It wasn’t a dark look, Teddy realised, with a gut-punching sensation. It was a hurt one. 

“When I started working with you, you told me we’d never be good partners.” James lowered his hands and glared at the floor. “I thought you were just being shitty at the time because I was loud and you like your space, but then I realised you meant it. And I worked to _fix_ it.”

“I know that,” Teddy said, blinking at him in bewilderment. “I worked on it too. I was an arsehole, but James, we _did_ fix that. I learned to live with the cat posters, we talked more, and I… I know how good you are at your job. I love working with you, James. I trust you. We’re good partners.” 

“But do you know why I tried to fix it?”

Teddy blinked a little more. He went to speak, but it proved difficult, because truthfully? No, he didn't know why James tried. He would have been well within his rights to leave Teddy to his moping, miserable existence alone in that office, and find a better partner. But he didn't. He stayed, and he brought Teddy lunch and coffee and dragged him away from endless paperwork and made him laugh and worked his way into every corner of Teddy’s life until Teddy couldn’t imagine living it without him. The very thought seemed ridiculous, even comical. 

“No,” Teddy said. “I don't know why.”

James snorted. “Of course not. You know, if you were your usual self, you would have said ‘because none of the other Curse-Breakers could put up with your arse, James, and you knew it even then.’ And you’d be right. Not about my arse, because it’s very easy to get along with, thanks. But I knew you’d be the best fit.”

The best fit. Teddy turned the phrase over and over and couldn’t think of a better way to put it. Because they didn't fit perfectly, slotting together like puzzle boxes or keys in locks. But nobody did. You simply had to find the corners and edges that you didn't mind bashing up against. The best fit. 

“I agree. I told you, James,” Teddy said softly. “I trust you. We’re good partners.”

“I’m not so sure. You’re keeping a secret, and that’s fine on its own. But it’s a big secret. It has to be, or I would have heard about it by now.” James looked around, frustrated. “And I know I’m a hypocrite, because I was keeping a secret too, even though you apparently knew all about it.”

“Secrets, what secrets…” Teddy said, before trailing off with a sense of dawning horror. Several pieces clicked together, painting a picture he almost didn't want to see. “Jamie. Jamie, you don't mean…”

He remembered, now, the way James clutched his scarf and then his hands and said so very urgently, “You know how I feel, don't you?” He remembered thinking that James was simply concerned about his partner not being safe on a mission. He remembered the way James turned tail and ran, and the way his own realisation knocked everything else aside and left him blind to the truth. 

“I do mean that, yeah,” James said, rolling his eyes. “We’re talking about feelings, Ted, so strap in. What else would I mean?”

“I don't know,” Teddy said, the truth pulled from him. “I don't know, and I didn't know then, either. When you asked if I knew how you felt, I thought you were talking about feeling worried for me.”

It didn't even matter that he might not be making sense. Teddy _needed_ to put things right. 

For a few moments, James simply stared blankly at him. Then he said, with the air of someone who had just been told that you could walk on your hands as well as your feet: “Oh.” 

Teddy swallowed, waiting. 

“So,” James said, hesitantly. “So, when you told me it didn't matter, you meant…”

“Oh fuck,” Teddy said, tripping over himself in his desperation to reach him. “That’s not what I--listen, when I said that, I meant, we had to do the mission even if we were both worried about each other. If I’d known what you were talking about, I never would have told you it didn't matter, James. I promise it matters. It matters so much, Jamie, you have no idea.”

“No, I don't have any idea” James said, sounding a bit dazed. “I think I’m starting to get an idea, though. Keep talking.”

“The thing is,” Teddy said, his throat dry. “The thing is, I realised something—”

Teddy couldn’t describe what pulled him forward: maybe it was the truth, pulling him up and up and over until he could cradle James’s face with both hands, stroking his thumb along the ridge of his cheekbone almost frantically, like he wanted to touch all of him at once, and he did. He did want that, very much, but first he’d settle for a kiss. 

He could feel the question in his eyes; James’s sharp exhale, and the way he leaned in to meet him halfway, was answer enough. 

Teddy wrapped his hands around James’s waist and pressed them together, holding him close. He tilted his head to kiss him closer. It was sweet and thrilling, and soon it turned open-mouthed and gasping. Teddy had never felt like this before. He had kissed people, but not many, and never like this, never with this sweet rush filling him, making his pulse soar. 

Teddy pulled James even closer, still kissing him hard, and they over-balanced slightly. 

They went stumbling backwards. James pushed Teddy’s shirt up, his hands sliding over smooth skin, and Teddy’s breath stuttered at the warm feeling. He pushed James a little more firmly until his back hit something hard. Priceless artefacts went tumbling to the ground; something clinked and shattered. 

Teddy pulled away, breathing hard. James’s eyes were still closed, and he got to watch them flutter open, his mouth parted every so slightly, a pretty red blush painted all over his freckled cheeks. His chest rose and fell quickly. Teddy reached out to touch, connecting the line of freckles that most resembled a constellation, across the bridge of his nose. 

“Uh, so you weren’t kidding when you said you had something to say, huh?” 

Teddy chuckled; it delighted him, the way the sound sent a shudder through James. He almost had to look away, and then he did look away, his eyes darting to the left, and his gaze caught on something glimmering in the dusty light. 

Just over James’s shoulder, there was a stack of crates. On the very top crate, with a domed glass case pulled over it, there was a golden dragon. Except it wasn’t just a dragon: it was a serpent, entwined in a circle. It looked almost like a crown. 

“Ted?”

“James, look at that.”

The seriousness in his tone must have tipped James off. He turned, and his brows rose. They shared a look of understanding and shelved the kiss for now, sneaking towards the serpent. This close up, Teddy could see that it wasn’t a circlet or a crown, the way he had thought it was. 

“That’s a tobacco pipe,” James said grimly. 

The Smoking Dragon was indeed a tobacco pipe. The pipe itself protruded from within the circled snake, crafted from polished gold and encrusted with diamonds. Sapphires lined the snake’s tail, which disappeared into its mouth, and two rubies formed glinting eyes. 

“That’s an ouroboros,” Teddy murmured. 

“Bless you.”

“No, like the Greek snake. Or Egyptian, I can’t remember where it originated from. It’s supposed to represent the cycle of life, and death, and renewal.” 

A piece fell into place. 

“Didn't dad say that these guys were calling themselves the Skin Sloughers?” James said, following the thread Teddy was weaving. “Pretty damning piece of evidence, that.”

More pieces started falling into place. The endless circle of Hoop Street. The family sigil on the piece of paper. The family sigil that he had seen before, on a certain someone’s ring. 

“It’s Baz,” Teddy said. He turned to find James staring at him with something akin to awe, and a little bit of fondness, and a hell of a lot of exasperation. “Don't you see, James? It’s Baz.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but that’s great, Ted. But the door?”

“The door is Deadlocked,” Teddy answered automatically. Then he paused, turned to face the giant, Deadlocked door, and sighed. “The door is Deadlocked. Well, I guess there’s only one thing left to do.”

“And what’s that?”

“Knock.”

* * *

The study room was incriminatingly silent. The combined stare of Ron and Harry created a sort of laser effect, which Teddy could feel burning through his skull. He laced his fingers in his lap and tried desperately to keep his lips from twitching.

In the seat beside him, James was shaking with barely repressed laughter. 

Ron broke first, snorting into the silence. He clapped a hand on Harry’s shoulder and bowed low, laughing up a storm and wiping his eyes. When he came back up, it was with a sunny grin and an appreciative look in his eyes. 

“Not a bad outcome, if you ask me,” Ron said, cheerily. “We got the artefact, didn't we?”

The Smoking Dragon glittered prettily on the desk, obscuring a detailed floor plan. The wings flapped gently, undulating with slight metallic creaks. Teddy thought he spied a plume of fine smoke whenever he turned his head away slightly. 

“Yeah, and alerted half the resort at the same time.” Harry sighed, rubbing his temple. “Did you have to knock quite so loudly?”

“We knocked as much as we needed to!” James protested, still laughing. “It’s not our fault that Edgehorn got ahead of himself. Is he alright, by the way?”

Edgehorn was currently sporting a nasty bruise on his head and his ego. He had heard the frantic knocking from within the store-room, and blasted the doors apart without waiting for an explanation for why he shouldn’t do that. Deadlocked doors disliked being blasted open. Teddy was lucky that James got the protective spells up in time to keep them from being bashed about by flying door handles. 

He recalled the way James threw himself in front of him, arms splayed out, his back warm against Teddy’s front. He wanted that again, but in less dire circumstances. He would have been content to just hold James close, to reassure himself that all the bad stuff was past them. But he wouldn’t mind resuming that kiss. 

Although now that he thought about it, he wasn’t so sure that the bad stuff was past them. They hadn’t talked properly, and Teddy still hadn’t told James that he loved him. Maybe he could ask for a date first, but that felt like taking a step backwards. 

“He’s fine, and he’d be even more fine if you hadn’t felt the need to go off half-cocked,” Harry said, brows lowering. “I told you to get your arses back to the study, not go breaking into store rooms.”

“Excuse me, I only ever do anything full-cocked.”

Harry tipped his head back in a deep sigh, and Ron snorted again. 

“What about Baz?” Teddy asked. “You’ve got to see it too. His family sigil is the Ouroboros, and he talked about having his eye on The Smoking Dragon.”

Ron held up his hands to ward off some of Teddy’s eagerness. 

“Calm down, mate. You’re right, we reckon. We’ve suspected they’re operating out of Hoop Street for a while now, and if they’re calling themselves the Skin-Sloughers, then it’s a pretty solid link.”

“Hermione’s doing some research into the Wyvere family,” Harry said. “She thinks it must be a pretty ancient one, and if there’s bad blood there, it might explain who our mysterious Skin Sloughers are, and why they’ve decided to target Baz.”

“It would also explain why Baz felt the need to hide his identity when he came to work for us,” Ron added. “If he’s been targeted for a long time, and by his own family no less, then no wonder he’s thought up a cover.”

“It makes sense that they’re family, since they knew how to draw him out,” James mused aloud. “They had the kids talk about the Smoking Dragon, didn't they? They laid a trail of smoking pipes to spark his interest, so he’d start re-locating the kids personally, and then they started slipping information about the Smoking Dragon into the conversation. Zach was supposed to go with him, but he snuck back to our office, which was when he got threatened by whoever was on the other side of that orb. Bet you anything that he was the one with the location for this place.”

The room fell silent, as they all stared at the Smoking Dragon. The ruby red eyes seemed to darken the longer they stared. 

“We’ll get them,” Harry murmured. “And we’ll keep Baz safe until we do. But for now, you two need to get this back to the Ministry, and then get yourselves home. The auction’s off after the chaos you caused, and there’s nothing left for you to do anyway. Might as well get some kip.”

It seemed like too much of an anti-climax, to walk quietly back to their rooms and pack their stuff, which took approximately two minutes for Teddy, and ten for James. Teddy had only removed a pair of shoes, whereas James had tipped his whole bag over the bed in a tantrum. He was rather sheepish as he put everything back. 

“Seems weird to be going back without having caught anyone,” Teddy said, bouncing slightly on the bed as he waited. “Like we’re leaving it unfinished.”

“We’re not actually Aurors, you know,” James said, cramming a couple of shirts under his sketchbook. “And you heard Dad, he’s not going to rest until he’s caught the bastards. Besides, I’d say we did a lot of their work for them.”

“Yeah, and guess what we have to do when we get back to the Ministry.”

James paused with the zip halfway round his pack, and groaned. “Oh Merlin, paperwork. So much paperwork. How about we leave that for tomorrow and sleep for seventeen hours straight, instead?”

“No, but I’d like to kiss you again,” Teddy offered. 

It was the Truth Curse, but it was also Teddy, and that seemed important somehow. It stumped James though, and he floundered visibly for a minute, before rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish look. 

“Guess I better get used to that, huh?”

“I definitely would, if I were you.”

“Christ, okay.” James laughed, rubbing a hand over his face. “Ted, come here a sec.”

Teddy did so eagerly, and when James kissed him first, it stole all the breath from his body. It was like being kissed by fire, warming Teddy to the core, with none of the frantic, urgent haste of their last kiss. This was a simmering flame. 

Teddy drew back with a gasp and opened his mouth to speak. 

Loving James was like thunder. It was slow, and sometimes it was hard to hear over the flashy sparks of James’s personality, but it was always there in the background, and when it rolled over you it wasn’t a strike of lightning, it was an all-encompassing roar. You could not know James Potter without loving him, in Teddy’s tender opinion. He just hadn’t realised quite how much he loved James, and in which way. 

He opened his mouth to say all of that, or at least some of that, but James lurched forward in an ungraceful manoeuvre and slapped a hand over Teddy’s mouth, cutting him off. 

“I can see you’re about to say something sappy, and you have no idea how much I want to hear it,” James said fervently. “Seriously, I want to hear it. But could you do me a favour, and wait for the Truth Curse to wear off?”

“I don't want to wait,” Teddy said, against the curve of James’s palm. 

“Christ,” James said again, with more feeling this time. “Maybe I want you to say it when you can choose not to.”

And the only thing that made Teddy agree was that he knew, without a shadow of doubt, that he would never choose not to.

* * *

The doorbell rang while Teddy was marinating on the sofa. He was so full of cranberry juice that he could feel a berry allergy forming, and his stomach felt like it was sloshing. No Truth Curse would want to come within six feet of him for the next ten years, and indeed, he had told several lies in the privacy of his home and they had all come out fully-formed and willingly.

A piece of parchment lay unfolded on the table, detailing the contents of the Smoking Dragon’s curse. It was a nasty Curse, an evolved form of the one that hit the victims of the smoke inhalation case. The good news was that Scorpius was going to pull it apart and find a curse for the victims, and they should be out of the hospital by the weekend. 

“You got the missive too?” James said, when Teddy opened the door. He was dressed down in his comfiest jeans, wearing one of Teddy’s old sweaters and looking supremely pleased with himself. He was also holding a paper grocery bag, which Teddy peered at curiously. 

“All the victims should make a full recovery, and the Investigation into the Skin Sloughers is in full swing.” Teddy kept his tone flat and almost bored as he recited the words carefully, trying not to grin. “They’re starting with Baz’s family, and he’s been put in a safe house until all this blows over.”

James deflated, his smile falling, and Teddy immediately backed up. 

“I’m joking, I got rid of the Truth Curse. Quick, ask me something,” Teddy said. “Anything.”

James didn't look very convinced, but a mischievous glint filled his eyes. “How many times have you wanked this week?”

“Seven.”

James paused, and eyed him suspiciously. “How am I supposed to know whether that’s true or not?”

Teddy grinned. “You’ll never know.”

James laughed, and the sound made Teddy feel so settled, so warm. He let James in and shut the door, and turned to find James rummaging through the paper bag. 

“They didn't have any pipes, but I snagged some of this to celebrate,” James said. “Inappropriate, or no? I also brought cranberry juice, but apparently you don't need that anymore.”

He held up a packet of tobacco, grinning like a fiend. 

“I’m surprised they let you buy that, considering you’ve got such a baby face.”

“God, I missed you.” James’s face broke into an even wider grin. “And you like my baby face. So much so that you kissed it.”

“I love it, actually,” Teddy corrected him. “I love all of you. I love every one of your freckles and the way you can be so petty, and I love your laugh, and I love how smart and kind and funny you are. And I’m going to kiss you again.”

James swallowed, lowering the tobacco, and he said quietly, “I love you too, obviously. But you’re sure you’re not under the Curse still?”

“I’m not, but Jamie?” Teddy caught his chin and kissed him gently, savouring the tender look in James’s eyes. “I promise, I’m telling the absolute truth.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you!! Feel free to say hi below! <3 And go check out all the other Jeddyfest works, I’m so excited to read them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much! I hope you like it!! <3


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